In Defence of Love
by 321girl
Summary: Nico really hopes he hasn't fallen in love with a criminal. In which Nico works at Jupiter Law Firm with brilliant lawyer Annabeth Chase, and Dr. William Solace is accused of murder by none other than Percy Jackson, Nico's former crush and Annabeth's (most hated) rival lawyer. A Solangelo story with some Percabeth!
1. A Most Horrendous Murder

**New story :) (But I will finish Serendipity soon!) **

**Hope you enjoy. I don't own the characters.**

* * *

Nico leans against the window of the train as it rattles its way towards San Francisco. His heart is thumping loudly. He wonders what he'll find when he gets there. It's been over three years since he found a tattered notebook filled with the red, blue and yellow crayon scribblings of a child. Over three years since his world has come crashing apart. Over three years since he'd lost the best and worst thing that ever happened to him. He idly rubs the sun pendant between his thumb and forefinger and tucks it back into the collar of his crisp white shirt. As the train trundles onwards, Nico squares his shoulders, pulls out his laptop and begins typing away on it…

* * *

Annabeth slammed down Nico's laptop. "Hey!" he protested.

"New case," the blonde woman said offhandedly, tossing a folder on Nico's laptop.

Nico glowered at her, but interest piqued, he opened the folder up. The first thing he noticed was the black and white photo for a handsome man grinning up at him. "Dr. William Solace," Annabeth began, "Age twenty five, head of paediatric surgery at the Delphi Children's Hospital. Accused of first degree murder for the death of ten year old Darcy Fallons."

Nico thumbed through the file, "Twenty five and head of paediatric surgery? He must have been quite accomplished."

"He wants to plead innocence as well," Annabeth murmured, pushing back a golden curl that had fallen from her bun. "I thought you'd be interested in working with me for this one."

Nico nodded. He was a paralegal at the Jupiter Law Firm, so he wasn't able to tackle full cases by himself, but he had proven to have a keen eye for detail and exceptional ability to read people, occasionally even surpassing Annabeth, the top lawyer at the firm. Nico was always hungry for more exciting and difficult cases; so there was no way he'd pass this one up.

"Does Reyna know?"

Annabeth flashed him a grin, "She gave me the case, knowing that I'd get you on board. Sucking up to the C-suite are we?"

Nico flushed, "I like Reyna," he said defensively. "She doesn't treat me like a child."

Laughing, Annabeth sauntered out of Nico's office, "I like her too. She's a woman who knows how to get things done. Client meeting at 2 pm tomorrow, look sharp."

After Annabeth left, Nico opened the file again, tracing over Dr. Solace's face. He looked happy in this photo, smiling like he was perfectly content with his life. He was wearing a doctor's coat with a stethoscope around his neck and had a ridiculous amount of cheer etched in every line of his face. Nico wondered if he really did commit the murder. Dr. Solace didn't look like the type who would wilfully kill a person, especially a child. _I guess we'll see tomorrow_, Nico thought, opening up his laptop. He swore. The report he had been working on had quit, three hours of work down the drain. "Annabeth," he groaned, slamming his head down on the table.

* * *

Nico and Annabeth stepped out of the sleek black company car. They simultaneously slid on their sunglasses as they surveyed the area. "Nice place," Annabeth commented as they stepped into the marbled floor, high ceiling lobby of the Olympus Complex. Annabeth was dressed in a grey skirt and blazer ensemble with glittering silver owl earrings. Her bright red ruffled shirt matched her lipstick to a tee, and Nico caught more than one man gawking at her, and glaring at him. Similarly, girls had their eyes riveted on Nico's classic white shirt, black suit look. He had a simple skull ring on his third finger. Smiling slightly, Nico took Annabeth by the elbow to the elevator. _Too bad I don't bat for that team. _

Checking the address in his folder, Nico pushed the elevator button. "Seventh floor." Annabeth strode to apartment number five and rapped briskly on the door, Nico standing with an impassive expression just behind her. He nearly lost his poker face when the door swung open though.

Dr. William Solace was, for lack of a better word, hot. He was over six feet in height, a trim build, but with defined muscles. His blonde hair fell in soft waves over his forehead and his eyes were a sparkling sky blue. Dressed in a simple blue dress shirt and black dress pants, he looked like a visiting god.

Annabeth smiled and swept off her glasses. "Hello Dr. Solace, Miss. Annabeth Chase, and my associate, Nico di Angelo." Dr. Solace shook her hand and Nico's, and the paralegal couldn't help but notice how warm his grasp was.

"Please, come in, and it's Will," he murmured, ushering them into his kitchen. Nico wasn't surprised by how bright the kitchen was. Floor to ceiling windows facing the east and clean white furniture was a staple in this apartment. The walls were decorated with framed children's art, more than one sporting a crudely drawn stick figure of Dr. Solace with "Thank you's" and "We did it!"

Annabeth sank gracefully into a chair and Will sat across from her. Nico slid into a chair beside Annabeth, keeping his sunglasses on. As Annabeth began chatting to Will, Nico kept his gaze fixated on the man, analyzing every motion.

"So Will," Annabeth said amiably, "We'll be representing you in your upcoming trial, which is in five months?" At Will's nod, Annabeth continued, "I understand the delicate nature of this, but I want to be frank with you, Will. If you killed Darcy Fallons, it will be found out about, in which case we would better be able to defend you and reduce your punishment if you pleaded guilty."

Will pursed his lips thoughtfully. "I understand," he said slowly, "But I truly did not kill Darcy and I have the utmost trust in the law to uphold justice."

Annabeth nodded, "Well, you'll be meeting up with Nico periodically to go over witness statements and to talk about what you're going to say at the stand. I'll occasionally be present at these meeting, but my job will mostly be hunting down other people to testify."

At Will's agreement, Annabeth and Nico outlined their fee and after Will signed a couple forms, Annabeth slid everything into her briefcase. She gave Will a bright grin and stood up. "Pleasure meeting you, Dr. Solace."

Will stood up as well to escort them to the door, "Thank you," he said. He placed a hand on Nico's shoulder and smiled at him. "I look forward to working with you."

* * *

"What did you think?" Annabeth said, as she applied a fresh layer of lipstick using Nico's review mirror.

Nico hummed, turning the mirror back into place as he pulled out of the parking lot. "It seems like he's telling the truth."

Annabeth nodded. "Well then, drop me off at Chiron's house. I'm going see what Will's boss has to say about him." Nico cruised down the highway as Annabeth read over Chiron's, the owner of the hospital, file. Glancing over at Annbeth, Nico smiled. They made a fine team, the best at Jupiter Law Firm. After Nico had graduated from university with a degree in social science - he snorted, remembering how antisocial he was in university - he'd happened to meet Jason Grace, the chairman of Jupiter Law Firm. Nico had bumped into the man while walking out of Starbucks, spilling his coffee all over him. Jason had been quite understanding about it and while he and Nico stood in line to get another cup, Nico had inadvertently impressed Jason with his perceptive analysis of the other people in the coffee shop.

"How did you know the barista was deathly allergic to almonds and that he was new?" Jason asked Nico as they waited for their orders.

"He paled pretty obviously when I asked for a shot of almond syrup, which someone who had worked here for a while wouldn't have done." Nico replied, grabbing his cup from the counter. Jason smiled at him, his blue eyes twinkling behind a pair of black-rimmed glasses.

"Nico, what are you working as right now? A detective?"

Coughing, Nico glanced down at his scuffed converse. "Unemployed at the moment. I haven't figured out what I want to do with my social science degree yet."

Jason pulled out his business card and passed it to Nico before leaving the coffee shop. "If you're interested in law, send me your resume. I believe the CEO of Jupiter Law Firm, Reyna, is interested in getting some more talented paralegals."

After acing his interview, Nico was paired with Annabeth for the first time. She looked him up and down in distaste. "Oh dear, I'm going have to work hard with you." She threw him a shiny credit card and strode away, saying something about coming back when he had bought a nicer suit. Nico glanced down at his second-hand, fifty dollar suit and grimaced. He couldn't see anything wrong with it.

Annabeth did eventually learn that Nico was more than capable of tackling any problem she threw his way, however, and warmed up to him. Although, Nico thought wryly, as Annabeth scribbled some notes, hair tumbling down due to the breeze from the open window, she was still a bit of an asshole. He still hadn't had time to finish that report she interrupted yesterday.

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**Please review and let me know what you think? I dunno how much potential this story has...considering I know nothing about law lol**


	2. Alibis for Breakfast

**Thanks for all the support and reviews :) Sorry this took so long to get up :O I had to really sit down and plan this fic out to make sure the entire thing made sense. Updates should come faster now!**

**As a heads up - this chapter establishes the background of the murder and may contain sensitive material. **

**But ENJOY :)**

* * *

Nico rolled over and groaned. He blearily rubbed the sleep from his eyes and shot up in bed. Shit! It was 6 am, he was going to be late for his meeting with Will. As Nico threw on a shirt and hurriedly brushed his teeth while putting on the coffee maker, he couldn't help but wonder who in their right mind would schedule a meeting this early in the morning.

Yawning, Nico stumbled through the lobby and took the elevator to Will's apartment. When a smiling Will opened the door for him, dressed in casual grey dress pants and a nearly blinding yellow shirt, hair and face in perky, handsome perfection, Nico became acutely aware of his own hastily thrown together outfit and messy bed-head.

"Good morning," chirped Will, placing a hand on Nico's back as he led him to the kitchen table. "Breakfast?"

Nico blinked. This was _highly_ unprofessional, but his traitorous stomach growled at the savoury smell of omelettes frying on the kitchen. Will nodded, his soft lips curling up in a knowing smile as he turned to the stove and flipped the omelettes over. "So what's on the schedule today Mr. di Angelo?"

Nico pulled out his folder of notes that he had made the night before. "Ah well, we're going to…uhm…start with the evidence Detective Piper found when she…ah…she investigated Darcy's death." He cursed himself for stuttering like a common schoolboy. Nico was the best paralegal in the business damn it!

Will slid a plate in front of him, the intoxicating smell of freshly cooked cheese and vegetables wafting tantalizingly in front of him. Nico licked his lips in anticipation. Since his half sister, Hazel, had moved in with her fiancé, Frank; Nico barely got nice homemade food anymore. Nico couldn't cook to save his life, a fact that had Annabeth and Jason highly disappointed in him when they first hung out at his apartment.

_"__You're Italian, and you can't even make me authentic Italian food?" Jason chided, digging through Nico's fridge. Although the blonde boy held such a prestigious position at Jupiter Law Firm, he was still only a few years older than Nico, a huge factor in their closeness. Jason had become a sort of older brother figure to Nico during his first few months at the law firm and they continued to stay good friends. _

_Annabeth yawned as she flicked through Nico's small movie collection. The beautiful woman had finally elevated Nico to "friend" status as well and had a bad habit of showing up at his apartment whenever she felt like it. "Come on Nico, one of us has to be able to cook. I'm too busy with cases and Jason is useless. I was expecting you to be the sole victualing member of this group." _

_Jason responded by throwing a packet of moulding cheese towards Annabeth, which she deftly caught and returned with a deadly accuracy, smacking Jason on the side of the head. Nico grinned and leaned back against the counter. It had taken him all of his college degree, but he'd finally found somewhere he belonged. _

Nico thought that Will would make a good addition to their motley group, one which had swelled to include Reyna (on occasion, when she wasn't too busy running the entire law firm), Frank and Hazel, and Jason's love interest – aka the girl he was too scared to ask out – Piper, a renowned detective with the Manhattan Police Force. Shaking his head slightly, Nico chastised himself. Will was a client, and a potential killer at that, but Nico did have a tendency of falling for guys he shouldn't fall for.

"So Will, we're going to start with your alibi for the murder."

* * *

Annabeth stepped through the doorway, wrinkling her nose at the papers haphazardly spread across the desk. "Piper, could it kill you to be a bit neater?"

The Cheoreke girl spun around in her chair and grinned, multi-coloured eyes sparkling. "I work better like this and besides, you know you like a spontaneity."

Annabeth sighed and eyed the photos Piper had strung up on her wall, the cluttered corkboard with pins and red circles scattered across the notes like stars in the night sky. Someone might think it urbanely beautiful until they noticed the morbid content of the images. "Is that really necessary?" Annabeth said, pointing at a particularly gruesome image of a man's bloody body.

Piper glanced over, "Oh yeah, already solved that one." She tore the picture down and tossed it in the waste paper basket. "Hardly worth my time. I always hate the drug-deal-gone-wrong cases."

Sitting delicately down on the chair across from Piper's desk, Annabeth pulled out her file and placed it gently on top Piper's mess. "So the Fallons case. I read over it, but there only seems to be speculative evidence."

Piper nodded, pushing her choppy brown hair away from her face. "From the autopsy, it seemed that Darcy was killed by a heroine overdose. Although practically everyone has the knowledge and resources to kill Darcy this way, so it didn't really give anymore information."

* * *

Nico flipped through a few of his notes, "The biggest issue is that you don't have an alibi during the time of murder, and you know where all the cameras in the hospital are, so you could have conveniently pulled the batteries from the one in Darcy's room."

Will nodded, "But the cameras don't even show me entering the hospital in the middle of the night. I don't see how I could have done it."

* * *

Piper pointed to a grainy image suspended on her wall. "We see a tall hooded man leaving the hospital here. He's much bulkier than Dr. Solace, but he could have easily stuffed the hoodie."

Pursing her lips, Annabeth jotted down a few notes, "And let me guess, Dr. Solace has enough knowledge of the layout of the hospital to avoid the hallway cameras."

Piper grunted in assent as she moved her notes around. "His apartment complex records him leaving the apartment at 12 am and coming back home at 2 am. Which coincides with the approximate murder time of 1 am."

* * *

Will scowled. "Everyone knows I go jogging every night, if someone wanted to frame me, then it wouldn't be hard for them to pick a time when I had no alibi."

Raising an eyebrow, Nico snorted, "Who the hell goes jogging at midnight and then manages to wake up before sunrise?"

With a glint in his eye, Will launched into a heated explanation of the benefits of sectioned sleeping rather than going a full eight hours at once that nearly exasperated Nico to tears.

* * *

"Are you serious?" Annabeth laughed.

Piper grinned, "So now I'm a devoted green tea drinker, and when my job allows, sleep in four hour blocks. Dr. William Solace is a health nut, but he's a damn good persuasive health nut."

Annabeth shook her head slowly and looked at Piper, "That's enough, back on track. What's his motive? I mean he's been volunteering at the hospital since he was in high school, the director of the hospital loves him, he's successfully treated over a hundred children, could be considered the best in his field. Why would he suddenly go kill a child?"

* * *

Nico pressed his lips together, "It says here that some of the staff heard you had an altercation with Octavian Apollus a day before the murder. Care to explain?"

Rubbing his head sheepishly, Will recounted, "So Octavian and I butt heads a lot. He's in charge of the finances of the hospital and I…ah… have a tendency of charging less or nothing for some patients. He was yelling at me as usual and I just lost my temper and grabbed his collar and said he's a heartless…jerk."

Nico looked at the witness statements, including Will's colourful language and stifled a laugh. "Do you think that Octavian might have been the one to kill Darcy to try and get you fired?"

Will pursed his lips, looking a bit upset. "I don't think so, I certainly _hope _not. Octavian can be a hard-ass sometimes, but he does keep the hospital running. Sometimes I think his job is even harder than mine."

Glancing at the photo of Octavian, Nico couldn't help but think that Octavian looked completely capable of committing a murder. A skinny man with sallow skin and washed out blonde hair, Octavian's face seemed fixed in a permanent scowl unlike Will's everlasting cheery expression.

"Hmm, Octavian doesn't have an alibi either." Nico mused out loud, tapping his pen absentmindedly, sipping the steaming drink Will placed in front of him. He paused and glared at the liquid. "What the hell is this?"

"Language," Will said breezily from the sink where he was washing Nico's plate. "It's Earl Grey tea. Fulfils all your caffeine needs and provides much more nutritional value than coffee."

The first thing that crossed Nico's mind was how incredibly _domestic_ this was, causing him to blush heatedly. The second thing occurred to him was that Will was forcing this tea upon him. "I didn't request this," Nico muttered.

"Doctor's orders," winked Will.

* * *

"What about this Octavian character," Annabeth asked, "He doesn't have an alibi either. He lives at in a bungalow by himself, and he has access to the hospital."

Piper nodded, "Yes, but Will has a more intimate knowledge of the hospital's layout, and he fits the description of the figure leaving the hospital moreso than Octavian."

Annabeth narrowed her eyes. There was still a chance that Octavian could have done it. She rubbed a hand across her face, "Do you honestly think Will did it?" There was a heartbeat of silence.

* * *

As Nico watched Will wave his hands dramatically in the air, eyes shining as he rambled off medical facts, he couldn't bring himself to believe that this man could have killed an innocent child.

* * *

"I don't know," Piper admitted.

* * *

**Please leave reviews and let me know what you think! I hope the format of flashing between two different conversations wasn't too confusing :/**

**Everything really picks up in the next chapter!**


	3. No Ordinary Doctor

**CHAPTER 3! #FullofFluff**

**Shout outs to those who favourited, followed and reviewed this story :)**

** My awesome reviewers: Jupanuma, bluelove22, Ava-Pottergirl, Must-Think-of-Username, FaiKazahaya, Vampiresswolf, The Messenger of Olympus, GloomandDoom180, wolvesarethebest, WiseGirlWriter, Sabrina, all the "Guests" THANK YOU FOR THE SUPPORT 3**

** GreenAngel01: "Defence" is the correct British way/Canadian way of spelling! Thanks though :) **

* * *

There was a sharp rap on the door, and Will hurried to open it. Nico looked up to see a mischievous looking man with light brown hair step into the room. _Boyfriend? _Nico thought, then chastised himself for the confusing cocktail of hopefulness and jealousy that arose in him. _Just business, _he told himself.

"Nico, this is Travis, my uh…" Will looked at Travis, at a loss for words.

"Prison guard," Travis said, holding up a Taser. "I'm to make sure Will doesn't kill any other poor sick children at the hospital."

Will groaned. "Don't even joke about that. Nico is my attorney."

"Oh he's not your boy-" Nico had forgotten that Will was only twenty five years old, he had seemed so mature, but seeing him flush a lovely shade of scarlet, and stomp on Travis's foot to shut him up, reminded Nico that he was just as young as Nico was.

"Shut up, Travis or so help me, I will tell Katie about the incident with mall cop and…"

"Alright," Travis interrupted breezily, but with mild panic flashing in eyes. "I'm here to escort Will to the hospital."

Nico looked at Will in confusion, and Will grinned apologetically. "They still let me work at the hospital, on the condition that I have a guard with me all the time. The kids would miss me otherwise."

"Oh," Nico murmured, glancing at his wristwatch. 7:45 am. He had an entire morning of nothing to do now. "I guess I'll just…"

"Come to the hospital," Will chirped, then he glanced at his feet, shuffling awkwardly. "I mean, if you haven't anything to do, and you wanted to interview some of the other staff, you could always come to the hospital and watch me – er see how everything works."

Nico paused and bit is lip anxiously. He supposed it would be a good idea to see Will in action at the hospital – to analyze his integrity of course, but he suddenly felt like his throat was full of cotton. "Ahem, sure," Nico said dismissively, ignoring how Will's face lit up. _Just_ _business _he told himself.

* * *

"Dr. Will!" A dark curly haired boy launched himself at Will, dressed in pyjamas decorated with little grapes. Will laughed and swept the boy into a flying hug.

"Castor! Did you miss me?" The little boy giggled and rested his chin on Will's shoulder, smiling. Nico felt oddly out of place seeing Will in his element. Every staff member and patient had been excited to welcome Will back – despite the fact that Will was the number one suspect for a murder. Apparently Travis worked at the hospital as a security guard too, a shoddy one, thought Nico, as the man had casually told Will to get to work and stayed in the front lobby to chat with his girlfriend, Katie, the receptionist, but that left Nico as the only stranger to the hospital.

"Yeah! Nurse Dakota was terrible at playing charades. He kept guessing _wrong_," Castor complained, like it was the most grievous sin.

"Hey! I resent that," a man dressed in scrubs and a glass of – was that wine – in hand poked his head into the room. "I was very good at charades." Castor stifled a laugh as Will mouthed "Liar" and placed Castor on the examination bench.

Dakota passed Will a clipboard and clapped him on the back. "Good to have you back. All the kids miss you, apparently I'm just not good enough for them."

Will snorted, gesturing at the glass in Dakota's hand. "That's because you drink Koolaid all day and refuse to give them any."

Laughing, Dakota waved at Will and Castor as he exited the room. "Doctor's orders! It's your fault that I can't give Castor this sugary goodness."

"He's diabetic!"

As if suddenly realizing Nico was there, Will turned to him. "Nico, this is Castor. Castor, this is Nico, he's my friend."

Castor nodded and gave Nico a toothy grin. Nico waved shyly and stepped back as Will began his examination. As Will joked around and gently checked Castor over, Nico couldn't help but notice how attractive Will looked. With his stethoscope slung around his neck and sporting a crisp lab coat, Will looked like a model for Times magazine: smart and sexy. Expecting Will to work as if Nico wasn't there, Nico was surprised when Will offhandedly gave him little tasks to do. "Nico can you please pass me the bottle of disinfectant?" "No, that's the bleach. It's the smaller bottle with a blue cap." "Nico can you toss this needle in the bio-hazardous bin, it's the yellow one." With anyone else, Nico would have been annoyed to be given menial tasks, but for some reason, it almost felt like a _privilege_ to be helping Will out.

"Well Castor," Will grinned. "That was your last examination. You'll be going home today!" The little boy's face lit up and he gasped in excitement.

"Really?" Will nodded as he scribbled something on a clipboard.

"Castor, show Nico to your room and he'll help you pack everything up. I'm going to give your family a call to tell them they can come over now, meet me in the front lobby, okay?"

Castor nodded as Will helped him down from the table and he timidly stepped over to Nico, extending his hand. A slight lump in his throat, Nico took it gently, his hand encompassing Castor's tiny one completely. Nico glanced questioningly at Will, but the doctor just gave him an absent nod as he typed something on the computer. As Castor led Nico out the door, Nico swore he saw Will glance up, blue eyes dancing and mouth curved up in a satisfied smile.

"That's Luke's room. And that's Silena's room. And that's Beckendorf's room. And that's the playroom." Castor rambled off as he and Nico walked down the children's wing.

"And that's Bianca's room."

Nico froze, the name sending him to another time.

_"__Piccolo! You nearly gave me a heart attack!" Bianca scolded, sweeping Nico into her arms. The six year old boy giggled and wrapped his chubby arms tightly around her neck. "I thought I'd lost you! No more running after kittens."_

_"__We'll be okay," Bianca murmured as she grasped Nico's hand. The plane took off and Nico watched his beloved Italy grow smaller and smaller in the distance. He turned his head back to his sister who gave him a brave smile and squeezed his hand reassuringly. "I promise"_

_Nico guardedly took in the small girl with wildly curly hair and frightened golden eyes. "I'm Bianca and this is Nico," Bianca whispered, reaching for the girl, other hand still gripping Nico's. "We're your family, Hazel."_

_Bianca leaned over Hazel's shoulder. "You have to factor first," Hazel groaned and looked at all the other questions she had to redo. Nico was perched up on Bianca's bed as he struggled through his freshman English course. His sister came and sat beside him, flipping through her chemistry textbook. "You're doing really well, Piccolo. I'm proud of you." He smiled at her and gently bumped their shoulders together. _

_The rain pounded the streets outside, slamming into the cement and ricocheting off in an erratic dance. Nico watched with concern as Bianca pulled on her raincoat. "I'll be home before dinner," Bianca said. She pulled her phone out of her pocket. "Hello? Yeah Percy I'll be there in twenty. Yes, I did remember the flashcards. No, I won't write the test for you. Are Zoe and Grover there yet?" She waved at Nico as she stepped outside, opening her earthy green umbrella. _

_Hazel sobbed into her handkerchief while Nico stood numbly, staring at the massive arrangement of flowers on the freshly turned soil. You said you'd be home before dinner, Nico thought, feeling the burn of a million unshed tears behind his eyes. He felt a hand on his shoulder. "I'm so sorry," Percy said, gorgeous green eyes filled with grief. "I shouldn't have let her drive home in that weather." Nico turned his head away. _

A sharp tug on his hand brought him back to reality. Nico glanced down to see Castor looking at him in concern. "Are you okay?" Giving Castor a half-smile, Nico nodded. The boy didn't seem convinced but he continued to lead Nico down the hall to his room.

Nico hovered awkwardly as Castor began packing up his few belongings. As Nico ran over possible things to say – he had never really dealt with kids before – Castor began chatting about how he was so excited to go home, although it sucked because Dr. Will said he had to go easy on the sweets now.

"And candy is _awesome_," Castor grouched, putting his last stuffed animal into a small duffle bag. Nico laughed, loosening up.

"I know, I think half my pantry at home is junk food," Nico said, picking up Castor's bag for him, as they trotted to the lobby.

Nico stiffened as he rounded the corner and saw Will leaning against the counter of the reception desk, laughing with a curly haired man and a beautiful woman. Almost like a scene from a hit TV show, Will seemed to have such an easy time interacting with people. He played the part of a handsome, confident doctor so well, and Nico felt the faint stirrings of inferiority. He'd always relied on his smarts and abilities to get him through, failing miserably in the human interaction category, but here was Will, gliding through life, even on a murder charge.

Suddenly, Castor was enveloped by an identical version of himself. Nico stepped back and watched with a little smile as the two little boys hugged. The initiator pulled away for a moment, and demanded, "You're really coming home, Castor?"

At Castor's nod, the boy began sniffling, although he tried to cover it up by burying his head into Castor's shoulder. Nico glanced over at Will and was nearly taken aback by the ferocity of the glow in his eyes. _This is what he lives for._ Nico realized, understanding exactly why Will was so good at his job.

The woman bend down and squeezed both of boys gently. "Come on Pollux and Castor," she whispered. "Pollux, don't you want to go home and show Castor the surprise?"

Pollux's eyes lit up and he grabbed his twin's hand, but Castor held him back for a moment and looked up at Will. "Is this the last time I'll see you Dr. Will?"

Mouth quirking up in a light smile, Will bent down and ruffled Castor's hair. "Nope, you're not getting rid of me that easily. You'll have to come in for monthly check-ups for the next year and then two times a year after that. Gosh, I think you'll have to see me for the rest of your life!" Will embraced both the boys and stood up. "Now you can get going home; I'm sure you've missed your own bed."

Castor looked over at Nico and smiled sweetly. "I'll see you too, right Nico?"

Nico, caught in surprise, could only stammer, "Uh, I guess."

Will grinned down at the boys. "Oh yeah, Nico will be wherever I am."

Satisfied, the boys left the hospital, parents walking arm-in-arm behind them.

"We redecorated our bedroom! It's so cool!"

"Doofus, it's not a surprise anymore!"

"Yeah it is! Because you don't know _what_ it looks like!"

Spinning around, Will thanked the pretty green-eyed, girl –Katie – Nico remembered, behind the counter and gestured for Nico to follow him. As they walked down the hallway, Nico couldn't help but ask, "Why did you tell Castor that he'd see me again?"

Will smiled as he opened the door to his office. "Because you'll be around for the next five months, and you'll want to come by the hospital to help out and gather information that you can use to help portray me in a better light to the jury, right?"

Nico nodded uncertainly, as Will rummaged around in a filing cabinet for his next file. "But what about after the trial?"

Stopping for a moment, Will bit his lip, looking incredibly vulnerable. "After…I hope you'll want to drop by once in while," he murmured.

* * *

**I hope you enjoyed it :) I'd appreciate reviews! **

**Preview for next chapter (Because for once I'm almost done writing the next one :P)**

Standing in the doorframe was a tall, handsome man with tousled black hair and glimmering sea green eyes. He was dressed in a white shirt with a turquoise tie and casual black slacks. "Hey," he grinned.

"Percy," Annabeth and Nico said simultaneously. Nico's voice tinged with bitterness and Annabeth's with flat out disdain.


End file.
